The Technowarriors' Blog

FIRST Robotics Open House

2008-11-14T17:43:00.001-05:00

Students and Parents!!

Want to experience the fun that we all did in robotics? Why not join Team 768 at Woodlawn High School, it is not too late! On November 14th, Woodlawn High School's robotics team is hosting a open house. All students and parents are welcome to come and check it out. The team members as well as the advisors and mentors will be there Friday night. We will have robot demonstrations and the team members. New and returning members will be explaining what the FISRT program is about as well as our experiences.

As mentioned earlier...It is not too late to join. Take up on a great opportunity!
The Open House will be held at:

Woodlawn High School
1801 Woodlawn Dr.
Baltimore, MD 21207

Please Use Google Maps or MapQuest for directions. Hope to see you there!

Mt. Airy Baptist Church Community Outreach Day

2008-09-13T15:00:00.001-04:00

On September 20, 2008 The TechnoWarriors will be having a demonstration at Mt. Airy Baptist Church Community Outreach Day. Why don't you come have fun with the robotics team and get the opportunity to learn more about the FIRST Robotics program. The event will be held in Washington D.C. We will be explaining to our visitors what the FIRST program is about and what a great experience it is to be a part of FIRST. This event is open to the public and is free to attend to, so feel free to stop by and check it out!

This event will take place at:

Mt. Airy Baptist Church
1100 North Capitol St
Washington, DC, 20002

If you need directions, it can be searched from the Google Map Page.
We hope to see you there!

Welcome New and Returning Members!

2008-09-13T13:30:00.003-04:00

First off, we would like to welcome all the new team members to our 2008-2009 FIRST Robotics school year! The TechnoWarriors Team 768 is one of the many great organizations that have happened to Woodlawn High School. All the returning members and new members are thrilled to get this school year started. We will be having some exciting events to attend to that involve robotics demonstrations, building both small and large robots, fundraisers and fun competitions coming up.

For team meetings and schedule, please have a look at the calendar on our website. This will help a lot of members as well as parents know what is going on with the TechnoWarriors.

The Battle Is Upon Us!

2008-08-06T20:19:00.000-04:00

This year we are hosting an off season event based on the 2008 FIRST FRC Challenge, Overdrive! Teams will come from all over to compete here and take home the honor. The FirstBAA, an alliance of 10 teams in the Baltimore area, has banded together to host this event. We are a newcomer to the growing roster of off season events, and we hope to make this one of the premiere competitions on the east coast.

This year's event will take place at:

Park School of Baltimore
2425 Old Court Road, Baltimore, Maryland, 21208

Directions can be created from your location via this Google Maps page.
More information on the event can be found here. We hope to see you there!

Technowarriors 3.0!

2008-08-06T19:58:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the Technowarriors' Homepage! We hope you will like the new design we have created for our visitors. This site has evolved greatly since our days at Blogsome, or even when we wore red and our site was basic HTML using a Times New Roman font.

The site now features a PHP script, setting up what you're reading right now on our index page. As we post, this script will update almost immediately afterwards.
Our Google Calendar is featured in the left column, in a restyled gadget provided by Google. Want to add the event to your Google Calendar? Simply click on the event to open a new window with more information and saving options.
Our Updates section in the right column will now open up a new window to see posts we've made in the past.
While we do support Internet Explorer, this site was designed to work best under Firefox. There may be slight graphic difficulties in IE, but nothing that should break the design.

Feedback is always a good thing, so if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, contact us via our forums, email, or via our Facebook group.

A Great Experience

2008-04-30T19:16:00.002-04:00

The Technowarriors came home with another award from the Atlanta FIRST International Championships. It was our honor to receive the Judges' Award, our last hurrah for the official 2008 FIRST robotics season. Of course, the team is far from finished...the Off-Season calls us.

New Pictures from the competition will be up by next week.
Our 2008 Chairman's Book will be placed here for download and viewing.
New events to be posted on the calendar by this weekend. We've signed up for several off-season events, including our own Battle O' Baltimore starting in August.
New Admins will join the web development team.

The Final Countdown [Hotel Info]

2008-04-14T23:11:00.004-04:00

With less than 24 hours until we depart for Atlanta's FIRST Championships, the team is becoming really anxious, especially our newer members. Updates may still be possible, but the most likely case will be a wrap-up post on Monday about what the competition entailed.
The team will be staying in the Days Inn Atlanta Downtown hotel.

300 Spring Street NW
At Spring & Baker Street

Atlanta, GA, 30308 US

Phone: 404-523-1144
E-Mail: daysinnatlantadowntown@pattnigroup.com

Be sure to tune in! You can watch the event take place on NASA Select TV (Check your local listings, would be Channel 25 on Baltimore County Comcast) or via webcast on www.robotics.nasa.gov. We'll be on the Curie Field this year. Wish us luck!

Atlanta is a GO!

2008-03-30T17:13:00.002-04:00

http://www.usfirst.org/who/content.aspx?id=8626

Looks like Atlanta Championships are still on, despite the hurricane damage. Events should remain on schedule as well.

2 Weeks, 2 Epic Victories.

2008-03-17T22:47:00.004-04:00

This is Zero, your friendly neighborhood web designer for the Technowarriors. I'm bringing this update on a more personal level, because of what has transpired over the past two weeks. Our attendance at both the Finger Lakes Regional in Rochester, NY and the Chesapeake Regional in Annapolis, MD...nothing short of Spectacular. Every year, the accomplishments our team makes best themselves constantly; our team gets bigger, our robots get better, and everyone finds out a bit more about us. Often, however, I'm able to update this website in a decently quick enough fashion, a quick evening uploading pictures and changing some text here and there. I designed the website to fit the aspect of quick updates on a practical yet graphically pleasing display. Even so, it may take me this entire week, even with help, to post everything that the past two weeks have brought about.

At Rochester, we won the Industrial Design Award for our simple robot design, quick repair efficiency, and the loud-annoying-effective safety beeper on our transport cart for moving the robot. Coincidentally, we had a breakage in Annapolis during Finals that we were able to fix in time thanks to our design. What happened the following week blew our minds.

Our team won, for the first time in our FIRST history, the coveted Chairman's Award for the Chesapeake Regional. As FIRST veterans know, this award is the highest honor that can be awarded by a regional event. It's hard to describe the jolts we all felt as the event announcer read off the award speech, pinpointing parts of our Chairman's Presentation. Oh, how the tears flowed. Greg Needel, a Warrior Alumni, joined us in the emotional celebration with his parents (our mentors). Even as the game announcer, he was oblivious to our victory just as we were. I'm also the head photographer and media man on the team, so those jolts pushed me to turn the knob on my camera ever closer to the video setting. On top of all that, Dean Kamen was there, gracing us with his technologically advanced presence and congratulating us as well. He even signed a couple of our items. To be part of a team to receive such an honor...and on my graduating year, too. Shock and awe, tons of it.
Be sure to check our gallery for video of both events, as well as newly uploaded photographs from both events. In the meantime, I'm going to keep looking at this medal to make sure it really exists.

If you haven't heard, Atlanta has been the victim of a tornado strike, damaging parts of Downtown, including the Georgia Dome and the neighboring Congress Center, were the Championships for FIRST take place annually. The future of the championships is still being decided, but until it has been decided that the event is canceled or postponed, the countdown on the front page will still count towards the Atlanta Championships. Stay with us for updates on the website and the Championships!

Quiet on the Eastern Front

2008-02-22T23:39:00.004-05:00

With the almost constant changes being made to the website, there hasn't been enough updates, especially with the big day passing by. The FRC robot for Team 768 has been shipped! Pictures of the event should go up on Monday.

We have our first videos uploaded to the Gallery! Click on the "Videos" album to view them, no download required!
Loads of pictures have been uploaded to the Gallery as well. You may even see bits of our new FRC robot in its alpha and beta stages.
The "About Us" page now includes information on current team members, mentors, and advisors for our team. This page is mostly completed.
The front page has been modified with a countdown to our next event (and a nice slideshow of past and recent photos). Click on the "Updates" option on the menu in the left column to view the blog as it was before, or just check under the "Recent Updates" section to the right to see recent posts.
The "Media" section is currently being revised as it has almost been completely replaced by the Gallery page.
New Menu Design!

We'll update soon with new site additions and modifications, as well as new info regarding our team, our robot, and our upcoming events.

Excuse the Mess

2008-02-05T00:01:00.000-05:00

There's no total revamp, but we are planning on adding new content in the next two weeks. In the meantime, certain parts of the website will be slightly ajar.

The gallery has been updated to a more secure version, but the theme made for the old gallery is incompatible with the newer version. A default theme is being used until further notice.
New photos will be uploaded when the gallery is repaired. The gallery also supports videos now, so expect video content to go online as well.

Ideas on additional content we can put up? Tell us on the Forums! In other news:

The team is meeting every weekday and Saturday until Shipping Day on February 19th.
Play Day, a testing day for FRC robots, is being held at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute Senior High School (map here) on February 19th.
The Technowarriors have planned to attend the Finger Lakes Regional in Rochester, NY, as well as the Chesapeake Regional in Annapolis. You can find dates, locations, and more information on our Calendar.

Outback Steakhouse Donation Dinner Tonight

2008-01-10T01:17:00.000-05:00

The Outback Steakhouse Donation Dinner is being hosted tonight at Dulaney High School. A Google Maps link can be found here; simply plug in your address to the starting destination text box and your directions will be generated automatically. The dinner starts at 5PM for Donators; team members should arrive earlier to assist in setting up. Have fun, and enjoy the food.

The Technowarriors and the entire Baltimore Area Alliance would like to thank Outback Steakhouse for providing 2 great years of food, fun, and funding for our FIRST robotics programs.

Welcome to Technowarriors 2.0!

2007-12-20T23:50:00.000-05:00

We hope you like the renovations and expanded space! There are still changes planned for the website, but overall, you're looking at team768.org for the 2008 FIRST Robotics season. Without further adieu, lets look at the changes!

The home page changes dynamically; links not leading to other websites will open in this center frame, so there is no more waiting for an entire page to load up. Some exceptions include our gallery and...
A new Forum! This is the beginning of a real community boost and influence around the Technowarriors. Team members, mentors, and website admins will now be able to communicate easily with other teams, members of FIRST, and generally anyone that is interested. Forum activity is still light, and probably will remain as such for a time, but we believe our new forums will soon be a key part of the website and a team as a whole.
Practicality is an important part of our website, and so we have minimized the number of pages used throughout the site, along with dynamically shifting content to fit your screen resolution.
Any recent news posts that have been made will show up in the right column dynamically; when we talk, you'll know.
A bookmark drop-down list is available under the Updates section. Add us to your online web bookmarks such as del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Google Bookmarks, and more, with just 2 clicks.
We have a new banner, along with a revamped Tommy Techno (as we have named him).
A new admin has been chosen to assist in the website, forum, and blog. Mike has been a member of our team since 2005, and has volunteered to be a part of the experience that is team768.org.

Any questions about the website, suggestions about website improvements or add-ons, and other questions can be posted on the forum. Remember, the FIRST Kickoff is January 5th. See you in the New Year, and Happy Holidays!

Upcoming Events: New Year's Edition

2007-12-09T19:44:00.000-05:00

December 15:
The Technowarriors are hosting a FIRST Tech Challenge scrimmage event at our own Woodlawn High School. The event is free and open to the public, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Directions can be created here.

January 5, 2008:
The FIRST Kickoff Event starts off the 2008 FRC season! Watch the kickoff Live at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, at a local Kickoff Event location, on Digital NASA TV, or online via the NASA Web cast.

January 10, 2008:
The Baltimore Area Alliance is hosting the 2008 Fund Raising Dinner, sponsored by Outback Steakhouse, at Dulaney High School. Tickets can be purchased from any BAA team, and run at $20/ticket. More details will follow.

Article: BCPS Post

2007-12-02T19:25:00.000-05:00

We've been featured on our school district's home page!

http://www.bcps.org/news/2007/1127/

Previously on "The Technowarriors"

2007-11-15T22:39:00.000-05:00

This is Zero, the head admin of the Technowarriors website and blog. I would like to personally apologize for the lack of updates between the Battle O' Baltimore and now. My schedule has been very convoluted between working on the present website and the new upgrade that was really due some time ago. Most of the work I did myself, when there were clearly others that were able to help but I never relied upon; this is my fault, and as of now, I am attempting to remedy it. While I can't confirm at this point, there will be one or two admins besides myself in the very near future, as team members and mentors, and several other members of the team filling different roles of the website as well. Our ever-expanding and improving website simply needs more hands.

Now, for the recap:

The Technowarriors traveled to The Duel on the Delaware, an off-season Robotics event (actually hosted in New Jersey), despite our Homecoming day being on the same date. The team finished its run in the Quarterfinals, and the entire event was very lively and organized, especially to some of our newest members. We were also able to see FTC (FIRST Technical Challenge) matches take place, a new territory The Technowarriors haven't explored...
Until Now! The team is attempting to build up an FTC team for our newest members to start off their first Technowarriors season. More on these developments in a later post.
Our next off-season event (we like to keep ourselves busy) was the Brunswick Eruption, another event in the state of New Jersey.
The Ramp Riot Off-Season event in Ambler, Pennsylvania was a real blast for the Warriors. We traveled all the way to the finals of the competition, thanks to a great robot, a great driving crew, and great team members.
Media and footage of these events and more will be posted in a later update, hopefully by the week's end.
As I stated earlier, there are indeed new features coming to the website. Whether they will come before or after the redesign is still in planning, however.

The Battle is Upon Us!

2007-08-05T19:53:00.000-04:00

This Saturday, why go to the movies and pay to see fake robots fight, when you can see real ones go at it for free? It's the Battle O' Baltimore at Western Technical High School!

"This year we are hosting an off season event based on the 2007 FIRST FRC Challenge, Rack 'N' Roll! Teams will come from all over to compete here and take home the honor of winning Maryland's first off season event. The FirstBAA, an alliance of 10 teams in the Baltimore area, has banded together to host this event. We are a newcomer to the growing roster of off season events, and we hope to make this one of the premiere competitions on the east coast."

More details can be found on the Battle O' Baltimore website, including schedules, directions, and hotel info. If you're on Facebook, join the event and spread the news.

Summer Events

2007-07-12T17:59:00.000-04:00

Hello, and we hope you visitors are having fun this Summer! The team has several events planned out for July and August; we hope you'll come out, have fun, and cheer us on!

July 14th: Family Fun Day @ the MNG 5th Reg. Armory
July 20th: Tech Conference @ BWI
August 11: The Battle O' Baltimore

We're also signed up for other events, including the Ramp Riot, Duel on the Delaware, and the Brunswick Eruption. More details on these events will be posted in the future.

The Calendar has been updated, as well as several other site details. Please check the Events page for more information, stored within the calendar.

Gallery Complete!

2007-06-04T20:16:00.000-04:00

After many days of testing and debugging, our brand new gallery is operational.

We're using Zenphoto 1.0.6, which allows comments!
All albums from the Picasa Web Gallery have been carried over to our new gallery.
A new album for FIRST @ Capitol Hill will be added shortly after this post.

Visit the new Gallery page and check our team in action!

Several Recent Events

2007-05-10T18:01:00.000-04:00

Many of our members are going through final projects and exams, but the Technowarriors have still been up and about!

Our team demoed at Robotfest 2007 in the Historical Electronics Museum.
Congress held a FIRST Day on Capitol Hill. We demoed there as well, bringing our own portable rack system as well.

Pictures for both events will be up eventually, but our new gallery is still in beta, and there are several errors that need to be fixed. Bear with us until then, please. :D

FRC 2007 is Over!

2007-04-18T22:53:00.000-04:00

The team came back from the Atlanta Championships in the highest of spirits. We reached the Quarterfinals in our division (There are 4 divisions within the Championships), which is the farthest a team from Maryland has ever reached! After a break, we'll be back for some off-season events; count on it!

The website never stalls, though, so here are some updates:

We now have a Facebook account! You can find a link to it in our Contact Page.
The site is now a part of FIRST TopSites. Vote for us!

To Atlanta!

2007-04-10T16:34:00.000-04:00

Today's the day! We're off to Atlanta for the FRC Championships!
Just because we're gone doesn't mean we'll be out of touch, though. There will still be updates from Atlanta, and the Picasa gallery will be updated daily. Here are some site updates for you all:

The Homepage has been changed, as you saw. Team and Website updates can now be found in the Updates tab of the site.
The Navigation Bar has been shrunken and fixed to prevent over-reaching past the site borders. The Updates tab has also been added.
We have a new Gallery section in Alpha testing. Expect it soon!
The Contacts page has been updated. There's a picture of our school now!
The Picasa gallery has new pictures! If you haven't seen them, pictures from the Chesapeake Regional have been added!
The Downloads page has been renamed to the Extras Page.
Some of the button templates we created last year are in the Extras Page. Download, Print, and Show Off!

Pickup

2007-03-27T23:14:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the late updates, but as you can see, we're back!

There's information on the hotel the team is staying during the Atlanta Championships! Click here to view it. The link can also be found in the Event tab.
The Scouting Program has been updated! The program updates when we find any bugs, so tell us if you find any!
Stability Updates for the website.

Photos and videos have not been updated yet, but they should be up by the end of the week. Look for changes in the Gallery and Downloads tabs.

Chesapeake Underway

2007-03-16T00:22:00.000-04:00

We're back from the Practice day @ the Chesapeake Regionals. The real competition starts tomorrow, and we're pumped for it! Be prepared for several updates after this Regional!

Footage from Rochester

2007-03-12T16:41:00.000-04:00

Thanks to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.
Warning: Link only works in Internet Explorer - Click Here